First, thanks to those of you who were worried about my absence from this blog and took time to write to ask if all was well. It is nice to be thought of and missed! All is well; it's just been a busy few weeks since I last posted in mid-April.
What I've Been Up To
So...what's been going on? First, I took a trip to Nebraska to visit my mom, who lives about 7 hours from me. I usually plan on a spring visit and when I looked at the calendar I discovered that I did not have much free time in May or June so I just decided to take off. I spent 5 nights there and had a great time visiting with Mom, my sister, and my brother-in-law. I don't get home often enough!
Our all-breed kennel club in Burlington, IA, just started training classes. The first one took place shortly after I returned from my Nebraska visit so I scrambled to get two of the Lhasas ready for class. I am so thankful to now have a place to go to train the puppies to get them used to mats and ring procedures. Best of all, it's only an hour away instead of the nearly two hours each way I've had to travel before to other classes.
Once I returned from my trip, went to the first training class of the year, and put in some hours at work, our son who lives in Edwardsville came home for the first time since Christmas. His metal band, Black Fast, is gearing up for a tour soon to promote the release of their next album, "Spectre of Ruin," on Friday, July 13th. He and I took time to go to the movie theater in town to see "Avengers: Infinity War" and really enjoyed the movie. I'm a big Avengers fan, my favorite being Thor!
Next we went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to celebrate our granddaughter's 12 birthday. Here she is with Lynn and me. She is very proud of the fact that she now is slightly taller than I am!
And here she is with her dad (on the right) and uncle (on the left).
April was a fine month for family!
Four of the dogs and I returned late last night (about 11-ish) from a 3-day show in Jefferson, WI. I took Chance (Joyslyn's Moon Shadows), Bekka (Joyslyn's Moonlight Beckons), Onyx (Joyslyn's Onyx), and Josh (GCHB CH Joyslyn MLS Dakota Wind Breaker). We had a very good weekend. On Friday, Chance took Winners Dog and earned his first two points; Onyx took Winners Bitch and Best of Winners for two points and FINISHED. She is now CH Joyslyn's Onyx! Josh took Best of Breed and went on to take Non-Sporting Group 2 (2nd place) and Non-Sporting Owner Handled Group 1. Unfortunately, while we were in the Non-Sporting Group, the judge of the Best in Show Owner Handled competition decided to go ahead with the judging without us. When I found out you can imagine how upset I was. That was not supposed to happen.
On Saturday, Onyx was not shown, so the points in bitches was reduced from two to one. Bekka took Winners Bitch for the one point, which brought her total points for her championship to 4. Josh again took Best of Breed and went on to take a Group 3 in the regular Non-Sporting Group and Group 2 in the Owner Handled Non-Sporting Group.
On Sunday, Bekka again took Winners Bitch for a point, bringing her total to 5 points. Josh took Best of Breed, did not place in the regular Non-Sporting Group but did take first place in the Owner-Handled Non-Sporting Group. Josh showed so well all three days in all three rings. He never let down. I wondered how he would be since he had not been to a show--or even on a lead(!)--since late October. I think he missed going to the shows, so even though I planned to retire him from the ring, I think now he'll just be semi-retired.
In spite of the drive home being long and late, it was a happy trip!
I have to say that juggling four dogs in and out of the show ring is not easy, and I could not have managed it had it not been for lots of help from my friends. Huge "THANKS" go to LaVonne Bennett, Jane Chapin, Rebecca Powell, and Sue Stoddard for their moral support and help.
Thanks also to the judges who appreciated the Joyslyn's Lhasas: Steve Hayden, Lisa Warren, Mark Houston-McMillian, Debby Jahnke, Gerard Penta, and June Penta.
Things were so crazy that I forgot to get a picture of Onyx to celebrate her championship! We did get a few of Josh's wins though, and I will post them when they come.
Puppies
The puppies keep growing and getting cuter. I can't even believe they are already 6 weeks old. We did take photos last week but of course I never got around to posting them. We took some this morning too, so I thought I'd post both sets of photos.
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| Autumn at 5 weeks |
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| Autumn at 6 weeks |
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| Liam at 5 weeks |
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| Liam at 6 weeks |
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| Willow at 5 weeks |
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| Willow at 6 weeks |
Photos and Notes From Others
Kathy wrote: "Sophie is doing great. I can’t believe that she is almost 2 ½ years old! Time flies. She is so much fun—she understands an unbelievable amount of words, to the point that we are often spelling (she probably understands that, too); she steadfastly guards her self-proclaimed territory and has to study anything new on the block (flag, flower pot, trash can) to make sure it is “safe”; she has a lot of “puppy” friends, and knows them all by name; she likes to play games and take walks; and she gives great kisses! She is just a well-rounded, typical Lhasa Apso. We love her to pieces. I don’t know if you remember, but we picked her up on January 2, 2016, so every New Year’s Day, we also celebrate it as Sophie Day!"
Violet wrote about Shadow: "He was waiting at my bedroom door all morning for me to come out. He loves staying in the screened porch with Roman. Yesterday even Roman was not there, he just laid there by himself. He enjoyed the sunshine coming through. If he does not want the sun shine on him, then he would lay under the couch like he did this morning."
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| Shadow's new collar |
From the Johnsons: "Hi!! Our family always thinks of you when Snickers does a cute picture. Last night he was pulling out his favorite toys and then just laid right in the middle. He is just soooo adorable and we love him tons. Don’t laugh he is very spoiled as you can see by his tons of toys…"
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| Snickers and his many toys! |
April 27th is Lucky/Flash’s 6th Birthday. The people that operate the Doggie Day Care Centre sent the following picture. This guy does not slow down. He plays all day at the “ranch” and comes home and wants to play some more. On occasion, we jokingly say we are taking him back to Macomb and his ears perk up. Does he remember Macomb or does he remember our conversation of how we enjoyed the drive to Macomb? Who knows. All I know it his vocabulary seems to be getting larger than mine which is frightening. Congratulations on your 46th Anniversary----we celebrated ours a few days later for the 49th time. Continue to do a Super Job breeding Lhasas. In your spare time (a little humor here) you will have to breed younger individuals to maintain the breeding of one of the BEST dog breeds around! Have a Super Summer."
A Nice Surprise!
When I returned home Sunday night and took time to go through the mail that had accumulated while I was away, I found a nice surprise from India. I'd been sent a copy of the Indian Kennel Gazette, a publication of the Kennel Club of India. This issue featured the Lhasa Apso and included photos and articles about the breed; some of the articles were mine. I scanned the Table of Contents (see below). The issue also included articles by Catherine Marley, Marion Radstok, Beverly Drake, and Robert Cole. My articles were about grooming (page 22-23), coat change (page 24), and coat care reminders (page 25). While I was excited to see them included in the magazine. Three other of my articles were in the issue but not attributed to me: "Confusion About Color," Quick Tips on Grooming Your Lhasa," and "Frequently Asked Questions." While I was glad the articles were included, I admit to being dismayed that the attribution was missing. All of those articles, of course, are on my website. It just seemed weird to see my work and not have an attribution attached. Oh well...Was it my injured pride or the "old English teacher" in me that was at issue? LOL
It was a beautiful issue with lots of great information about our beloved breed. I wish all of you could see copies of it. It is easy to see that a lot of thought, love, and work went into the Lhasa Apso feature. It made me wish I had copies to give to puppy buyers. There is a lot of beneficial information in it, as you can see just by reading the Table of Contents. (I hope I made it large enough for you to be able to read it.)
With that, I'll say good-bye until next time. We have shows coming up on Mother's Day weekend and I'm hoping the dogs do as well as they did this past weekend. That would make a nice Mother's Day gift!
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